This invention relates to decals adapted for application to various container surfaces and, particularly, to heat activated and actinic radiation curable, wax-free, quick release decals.
It is well known throughout the cosmetic industry, as well as many other industries, that many containers are widely employed in the packaging of numerous products. Certain of these containers are fabricated from glass, while others are fabricated from various plastics. It is extremely difficult to print or otherwise impress indicia on such containers, due to the fact that the surfaces are extremely smooth, with low coefficients of friction and extremely high wetting angles.
As one can ascertain, a typical technique for applying a label or logo to a glass bottle employs an adhesive backed label whereby the label may be fabricated from paper or some other material and then is actually pasted or glued to the surface of the bottle. The same approach has been employed to place labels on plastic containers and so on.
As one can understand, a pasted on label does not present a particularly attractive appearance, as compared to directly printing indicia on the surface of the bottle or container. Particularly, in the cosmetic industry wherein expensive products such as perfumes, shampoos or other highly sophisticated products are utilized, one would desire to provide labels or indicia associated with the container which present an attractive format and which avoids paste on labels. As one can ascertain, various techniques have been employed in the cosmetic industry as attempts to provide such products. A very popular technique employs a decal. Such decals are provided by a company called Dennison and are sometimes referred to as the Dennison decal. Such decals, while providing a good appearance, have many problems associated therewith. A typical decal found in the prior art typically consists of a paper or Mylar (polyethylene terephalate) backing having superimposed thereon a layer of wax upon which an ink is utilized to imprint the various indicia and logos. The ink is covered by a sizing or adhesive. The layer of wax which is an integral part of such decals creates many problems such as, in particular, its tendency to dull various ink pigments. The wax is extremely detrimental when employed with metallic pigments and serves to reduce the luster and general effect of such pigments. Apart from the foregoing is the further problem that the wax coats the ink pigments producing many undesirable visual effects such as providing a dull, non-uniform finish and otherwise yielding a less than aesthetically desired product.
Generally, there also are pressure sensitive decals which exhibit great difficulties in application. As such, prior art decals are difficult to register, with respect to containers, and are of relatively high cost. The techniques of applying such decals substantially increase production time thereby increasing product cost. Accordingly, it is desirable to produce a decal which is relatively inexpensive, yet capable of accommodating all types of ink pigments, when applied to a container, with optimum registration, and which provides indicia directly coupled to the surface of a container. It is understood that prior art labels as pressure sensitive labels are difficult to align and register with container surfaces.
It is also desirable to be able to provide a decal which can utilize modern printing techniques such as silk screen, gravure, offset, flexo, heliographic or electrostatic assist techniques. In regard to this, it is therefore desirable to produce a decal which will enable one to print on the decal using the above-mentioned modern techniques and for example, apply the decal to various containers by means of conventional application techniques. The printing step, is invention, can be carried out by utilizing the Kammann which is supplied by the Kammann Company of West Germany and is extensively employed. In addition to functioning as a high speed printing machine, the Kammann press is designed to fabricate conventional multi-layer decals by sequentially applying the varied coatings at separate stations. Furthermore, the inventors herein have discovered that upon further modifications, the Kammann press can be adapted to sequentially cure the thermoactivatible layers, in accordance with this invention, as described hereinbelow.
It is a further object to provide a decal which can be applied to a container surface at a relatively low temperature and at a relatively high speed and which decal can be applied with exact registration to thereby yield an aesthetically desired finished product at reduced cost.